Xanadu Weyr - Meadow
A large, slightly rolling meadow is set high enough above the riverbank on both sides to avoid suffering from flooding, healthy ground cover and grass spreading out from either side of the dividing river. Scattered amongst the meadow are a variety of buildings, each with a narrow path leading up to it from a main, winding road. Some are set under a few trees, while others sit by themselves.
Stables and a smithy are settled on their own plots, while trees border the western edge of the meadow, and a faint outline of a fence can be seen to the north.
On the clear, level part of the meadow, a large wooden, roofed hexagon-shaped dais has been set up. The light-toned wood has been polished to a satiny sheen and decorated with garlands of wild roses and forest lilies twined with green vines and woodland ferns looped around the base of the roof and railings that sweetly scent the air. A golden glowlit globe hangs from the apex of each loop, bathing all in a warm ambient light.
Before the dais, is a portable dance floor of the same light-toned wood. Slender metal poles with hooks atop to hold glowlit globes have been thrust into the ground around the dance floor; these too have the garlands looped from pole to pole and twined about each pole to the ground.
Forming a square around the dais are gather booths of varying sorts and sizes - some with awnings, others with seating areas, and some quite plain overall, all decorated with the same flower and vine garlands.
The night had passed relatively uneventfully except for Kanta tripping into Ai'an, luckily he didn't seem to care. Now it is late and M'nol stands at the edge of the crowd, watching the number of dancers slowly dwindle. He hadn't had a great evening, but it was better than he'd expected, so he had to give Faraeth that one. Bronze Bloodstone is the only one of his fair in evidence, the others presumably asleep in his weyr.
Evening turns to night and yet time stands for no one as the hours tick by it finds Vivian at a loose end, she's had a good night so far, dancing and drinking just enough to keep her happy but no where near the realms of being drunk or the like. Skipping idly round the edge of the dance floor she spots M'nol and changes tack, her mask is still on and she comes to a halt right behind him. "Not doing anything?" She asks him in her sultry tones.
M'nol rolls his eyes, glad he was facing away from her since he could recognize the voice. Fiddling with his own mask, he turns, smiling, "Not at the moment." His tone was sweet if not as sultry. He smiles, bowing slightly and extending his arm, "May I have this dance?"
Vivian giggles, she's obviously in a really good mood. "You're learning at least little miner." She replies, taking a hold of his arm. "Conditions, you remember my eyes are up here." She explains with a wave of her hand, from her chest to her face. "Do that and I'll behave for once and treat you like a person for the rest of the night." She explains. "Agreed?"
M'nol smiles and nods, managing to maintain eyecontact… possibly because boobs were no longer a mystery to him… "Your conditions seem fair." Assuming she'll allow it, he leans in and gently kisses her hand, then picks up the beat of the current tune the harpers are playing: a slower waltz-like dance.
Vivian walks out onto the dance floor with him, trusting for once especially given what she's wearing, no shoes for starters. She does allow him to kiss her hand as the dance starts, an amused smile playing across her lips as she steps into the dance hold and lets him lead her away into the dance, "It has been a nice night, hasn't it?" More of a comment than a question, but it's out there anyway.
M'nol smiles, nodding as he steps carefully through the rhythmic timing of the dance, "Very nice. The monument is amazing." He dances through a few more bars before he asks, "You have any special plans for graduation?" His eyes remain locked on hers or past her, not drifting down at all.
Vivian is easy enough to lead and accomplished enough that if he does stray out of time or the wrong way she can reign him back in again if needed. "Hard to believe it's been that long." She replies about the monument. "Plans?" She ponders as they continue through the dance. "Not really, we come out, we look fabulous, better than the other group we get tapped I assume, I've not heard if mom is planning to do it any differently to usual, then back to the office the day after." She explains. "Are you running off to healer as soon as you're free of V'dim's stock?"
M'nol chuckles, though he does blush slightly even if his feet remain in time, "I'll try. I went a couple of days ago and they wouldn't even let me in the hall or let her out. She was supposed to be out of class." A few more bars pass, "I've never been to a graduation before. I don't really know what to expect."
Vivian smiles a touch at that news, pleasant enough on the face of it, though it's hard to tell with the mask what her actual expression is. "Usually we'll get tapped into whatever wing will suit us best, I'll be going into Quasar, the policy and diplomacy wing." She explains to him.
M'nol nods, "I'm hoping for Search and Rescue, personally." his feet continue to carry him across the dance floor, "There's a party after, right?"
"There's always a party after graduation." Vivian replies in one of those, Well Duh! Tones of voice. "Finally free of the leash of V'dim, I bet you'll be glad of that, what exactly is it about him that scares you so much?" She asks, uncomfortable question?
M'nol blushes again, but maintains eyecontact, "He nearly beat me with that crop. Is that not enough of a reason?"
Vivian shakes her head a little. "Not really." She replies, "He wouldn't have actually done it, he threatens and blusters and makes it seem as real to you as possible, but at the end of the day, would he actually have done it and then had to deal with Faraeth trying to kill him for actually hurting you." She explains none to gently, that's not unfortunately her way. "You have a lot to learn about what drives people."
M'nol chuckles humorously, "I was an apprentice. I'm used to getting hit when I screw up, not getting mildly threatened." He flows through the moves of the light dance, moving smoothly, "I'm young. I only know what I've experienced about people. He acted like a mean master, I assumed he was."
Vivian smiles a little. "We have dragons now that especially back then, get very very upset when something happens to us." She tells him. "He wouldn't have put himself in the position where he had to control an angry and confused dragon." It's about then that the music starts to come to a halt and Vivian takes a step back, dipping a curtsy to him. "Thank you for the dance. Don't expect the civility to continue for too long.
M'nol bows, smiling a bit, "I was a lot younger then, wasn't I?" He straightens, "Thank you for the dance. It's possible I'll even grown on you," he grins big, "like foot rot."
Vivian rolls her eyes as she straightens. "If you grow on me, I'll have the healers cut you off and dissected." She explains to him, ever so brightly before she breaks the contact and turns on her heel in a swirl of skirts, wandering off before anything else can be said to spoil a good night.